Mueller report to be delivered to Congress by mid-April: Barr

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ANI US
Last Updated : Mar 30 2019 | 4:55 AM IST

US Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on alleged collusion of Russia in the 2016 Presidential election will be delivered to Congress by mid-April, announced Attorney General William Barr on Friday (local time).

"Everyone will soon be able to read it on their own," Barr wrote in a letter to the lawmakers.

According to the Washington Post, Barr will not send the 400-page report to the White House for a "privilege review" before showing to Congress.

"Although the president would have the right to assert privilege over certain parts of the report, he has stated publicly that he intends to defer to me and, accordingly, there are no plans to submit the report to the White House for a privilege review," Barr wrote.

This comes after Democrats questioned the release of only the conclusion of the report, but not the full findings.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Mr Barr's summary, which cleared Trump of campaign collusion with Russia and criminal obstruction of Mueller's federal probe, was "condescending" and "arrogant."

"Attorney-General," she said, "show us the report and we'll come to our own conclusions." She asked what Trump and the Republicans were afraid of and mocked them as "scaredy-cats.

Barr on Sunday submitted his principal conclusions from Mueller's 22-month long investigation into Russia interference in the 2016 elections, which saw Trump take charge as President.

While Mueller has stated that Trump and his associates did not conspire with Russians, he has not completely exonerated the US President. The Special Counsel did not "make a traditional prosecutorial judgment" in his report, according to Barr.

"The Special Counsel's decision to describe the facts of his obstruction investigation without reaching any legal conclusions leaves it to the Attorney General to determine whether the conduct described in the report constitutes a crime," Barr's summary stated.

The 22-month long Mueller investigation - the final report of which was submitted to Barr on Friday - interviewed about 500 witnesses and obtained more than 3,500 subpoenas and warrants of various types. 13 requests to foreign governments for evidence were also made as part of the massive investigations.

While there are no further indictments, the investigation saw charges being filed against 37 defendants, seven guilty pleas and one conviction.

Meanwhile, Barr has said that process to release further information from Mueller's report has begun at the Department of Justice. He also added that Special Counsel Mueller would be involved in the scrubbing of the report for releasing it to the public.

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First Published: Mar 30 2019 | 3:34 AM IST

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